


Playing Favorites

by EonAO3



Series: Picture Perfect [11]
Category: Sebastian Stan - Fandom, Sebastian Stan Fandom
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Domestication, Expecting, Family, Fluff, Love Stories, Married Life, Relationship(s), Romance, Romantic Fluff, Sebastian Stan - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 19:56:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14504355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EonAO3/pseuds/EonAO3
Summary: Neither of you likes being far from home, but your husband’s trip couldn’t have come at a busier time. While Sebastian’s off to make another movie, he hopes no one forgets him.





	Playing Favorites

"So, when I can come back for a visit, in September," Sebastian said, leaving the walk-in closet to go to the bathroom, "we'll need to go look at a car, I guess. I mean, we'll be in the new apartment, so we'll have a place for it."

"Got anything in particular in mind?" you wondered, standing up from where you'd been sitting on the closet floor with Beau, watching as Sebastian packed.

"Hadn't really thought about it," he called from the next room. "I did think that we should probably consider, like, an SUV. New York can get pretty snowy in the winter, you know."

"Not a bad idea," you conceded. "You should look around online, when you have some time. I will too and we can compare notes."

"Sounds like a plan," you heard him say.

You grabbed a sweatshirt off the shelf, feeling a little chill go through you. Despite the sunny early July weather outside, the air conditioner temperature inside was a constant tug of war when the summer heat dipped and spiked. It was a fight you didn't mind letting him usually win, when it meant cuddling up with him to keep you warm. But then, you also didn't exactly mind snuggling up in one of Sebastian's hoodies either, especially when he was away for work.

Beau pranced out ahead of you, going to lay down in his oversized bed in the corner of your bedroom. On your way out of the walk-in, you stopped. You caught a look at yourself in the full length mirror on the closet door. You eyed over your reflection for a long moment, smoothing your hand over your little four month pregnant belly, twisting to take in the new shape of you from a couple different angles and sticking out your gut to exaggerate the image and ponder the changes to come.

"Speaking of moving," Sebastian said, from around the wall of the bathroom. "Did you ever figure out when Ashley's coming out to help?"

"Yeah," you nodded, even though he didn't see it. "Movers come on the 14th and she'll be out on the 8th to help me finish things up here and get a few things over to the new place early. And then she's coming back the week before the baby's due."

"For how long?" he asked.

"Three or four weeks," you shrugged, knotting your hair up in front of the mirror. "Her lease is up the end of December, so she's gonna be able to start looking into places out here while she's in town."

"It's about time," Sebastian huffed. "If she wasn't interested in coming out here, we were going to have to hire you another assistant for New York."

You weren't really paying attention to the remark about your PA/bestie in LA, while you still shifted in the mirror. You had muddled through life in the Big Apple with her staying in Los Angeles and helping you juggle your schedule and obligations between the two coasts from there. For the most part, it had worked out great, given the amount of back and forth you did and that the majority of your work had been Hollywood based. But you hadn't been in LA since you wrapped your last film, and found out you were pregnant two months ago, and you didn't expect to spend much time in California for the next several months anyway.

You and Sebastian decided you wouldn't accept any new projects until after the baby was born. There were just so many things happening this year. With Sebastian already locked into a contract and set to begin filming for the next Marvel movie at the same time that you needed to find a bigger apartment and get ready for your new arrival in December, the promotion schedule for your film and all the incidentals of everyday life would give you more than enough to occupy your time. Realizing there was a lot to do and that he'd be gone for the worst parts of it, Sebastian had all but insisted, that for your health and sanity, you didn't need to accept any new offers and that you and Ashley should consider relocating her job to NYC.

"Do my boobs look bigger?" you wondered, turning to the side in the mirror, studying the curves of your profile.

"What?" Sebastian called, from the bathroom, his voice sounding quite confused by the abrupt change in topic.

You cupped and pushed your breasts together, letting them go with a discerning look. You groaned to yourself, pouting as you peeked down the front of your tank top. Your bra felt a little snug and your breasts seemed to swell just a little more roundly over the edge of the lace trimmed cups than usual. Not that you were complaining too much about more cleavage, but the new tenderness was kind of annoying as it occasionally came and went.

"My boobs," you repeated, a bit louder and almost a complaint this time, as you pulled Sebastian's hoodie over your head. "Do they look bigger to you?"

As you were climbing in to recline on the bed, Sebastian poked his head out of the bathroom door, looking around for a second to find you in the room. "You're wearing a hoodie," he pointed out, his face scrunching and a hand waving out at the obvious. "How can I answer that?"

You picked up your book from the nightstand, the third of a short list of baby books you were told by several sources 'you _have_ to read'. "You see them all the time," you reminded him, as if it should jog his memory and bring him to a conclusion.

"Well, yeah," he said, cocking his head thoughtfully to one side, a mischievous smirk coming to the corner of his mouth. "But I'm not exactly thinking about taking measurements for comparison." 

Sebastian disappeared back into the bathroom, while you shook your head and picked your bookmark out of the pages it separated. "Whatever," you smiled to yourself.

"Your boobs look great," Sebastian noted, from the other room.

"I know _that_ ," you conceitedly agreed. "I'm saying, I think I might need to go shopping today. Things are getting a bit...uncomfortable."

"So, go shopping," he indifferently shrugged, coming into the room to tuck his toiletries case into his suitcase. When he zippered the rolling bag shut, Sebastian looked up to you with an almost worried wrinkle in his brow. "You're still going with me to the airport, though, right?"

"Of course," you frowned, as if he even had to ask.

Sebastian beamed at your answer, tugging his suitcase off the bed and setting it by the bedroom door. He came back to the bedside, putting a knee into the mattress to crawl to you. While you rested half-propped up against the headboard, Sebastian slipped an arm behind your back and draped the other across your hips as he angled himself, lying somewhere in between being on his side and stomach. He settled his head at the top of your small, but growing, belly.

"Nu mă vei uită cât am să fiu plecat, nu-i așa? (You won't forget me while I’m gone, will you?)" Sebastian spoke softly, turning his chin down to address your belly. “Am să revin să va vizitez cât de des pot, dar va trebui să fii cuminte și să ai grijă de mama ta pentru mine.” (“I will come back and visit as often as I can, but you have to be good and take care of your mother for me.”)

You snuffled a quiet laugh, closing your book over your index finger and letting it fall to your side. "What are you doing?" you asked, combing your fingers lovingly through your husband's hair.

Sebastian sat up on his elbow to look at you. "The books say the baby can hear you now," he explained. "I'm gonna be gone for, like, four months. And that's if everything stays on schedule. ...I want the bean to remember me."

"The _bean_ ," you giggled, "should be about the size of an avocado by now. And nobody's going to forget you."

"No," Sebastian frowned, "but they'll have a favorite."

"A favorite?" you laughingly doubted.

"Yeah," he insisted, with a small jut of his chin for emphasis. "Of course, it's going to be you. You'll be the only voice they hear for months."

"You'll be back to visit," you tutted, with a small shake of your head. "Speaking of which, when you do come back that weekend in August, we have _got_ to do the baby registry."

"Even better," he sarcastically snorted. "When I come back, I'll be put to work."

You snickered. "It's the least you could do," you playfully noted, nudging the end of your book into his shoulder.

"I know," he smiled. "Don't forget to show those notes on the kitchen to the designer. I think we can get everything we want in there."

"I won't forget," you nodded. "I started a list of things to go over, room by room. You do realize of course, you skipping town means you're stuck with whatever paint I decide on, right?"

Sebastian gave you an exaggerated groan. "Why are we even moving?!" he grimaced. "This place is perfect."

"This place is _small_ ," you countered.

"For a two bedroom on Manhattan?" he challenged, lolling his head back to see you. "This place is a mansion."

You snickered. "Okay," you conceded, "for _us_...it's big enough." You ran your hand over your small belly. “But the second _bed_ room is an office and there's nowhere else to put that. Where's the baby going to sleep?"

"Those desk drawers are pretty deep," he mused, sounding and looking pretty confident.

You swatted at the back of his head and he snickered. "What time is your flight again?"

"Ugh," Sebastian grumbled. "Don't remind me."

"You're coming home for my premier in two weeks," you told him. "I'm going to come down next month for a few days. Don't be mellow dramatic."

"It's not the same," he almost sulked, going back to his cuddling at your side.

"Don't worry," you soothed, giving his scalp a luxurious scratch. "We'll watch Winter soldier every night before bed."

"I have like 5 lines in that one," Sebastian playfully scoffed, dancing his fingers up your side to tickle your ribs.

You squirmed under his touch and swatted his hand away with your book. "But it's my favorite," you assured him.

Sebastian rolled his eyes and complained to the baby, "Cinci replici. Vezi? Deja încearcă să mă uite." (“Five lines. You see? She‘s already trying to erase me.”)

"What are you saying?" you questioned, poking a finger into his shoulder, with a suspicious grin.

"Nothing," he chuckled, obviously caught at something.

"I don't believe that for a second," you shook your head.

"I'm just saying," Sebastian began, tilting his head to see you through his brow, "how much I'll miss the both of you and I love you."

"I didn't hear any kind of 'dragoste' in there once," you pointed out, quirking an eyebrow at him.

You'd picked up a few words and phrases in Romanian, between Sebastian and his mother. You didn't know what he had said, but you knew he was up to no good.

"Are you sure?" he checked, creasing his brow in curiosity, trying to make you doubt yourself.

Your pursed lips pushed to one side and you nodded your head. "Mm hm,” you sarcastically hummed.

"But I _will_ miss you," he assured you, breaking into a warm smile, before nestling back onto your stomach. "Both of you."

"Oh, I know," you cooed, tracing your fingertips down his neck and back up again.

You thought you heard a quiet sigh from him and you tutted, more than a little saddened by how unhappy he seemed to be about leaving this time. It was always a little depressing when one of you were off to a location shoot or gone to LA for weeks or months at a time. Four months was a good amount of time for anyone to be separated from their spouse, but you two were used to lengthy absences for work. You visited each other on location or came back to New York for a quick visit, whenever you could squeeze it in, and it made the distance and time away more tolerable. But there wouldn't be much traveling on your part this time around and, obviously, this was the first time Sebastian was leaving while you were pregnant. It wasn’t necessarily a trip either of you had been looking forward to, since you found out you were pregnant and decided your living arrangements needed an upgrade.

You may not be on a set, but there was plenty of work for you to do. You had just closed on the new apartment yesterday. Some things had already been packed, in anticipation of the move. But there was plenty to box up and you still needed to start the registry for the baby shower, have the first meeting with the decorator for the new place, finish picking out furniture for the baby's room, and get signed up for, and actually attend, your pregnancy parenting courses. It was a hell of a time for Sebastian to be headed out of town for the summer for filming.

"You'll call and I'll put you on speaker," you promised, hoping it would make him feel better. "That way the baby still hears your voice. And we'll binge watch every movie you've made and every episode of Gossip Girl you're in. It’ll be like you never left.”

Sebastian perched back up on his elbow again. "What about Political Animals and Kings?" he asked, his eyes running up and down you, plainly offended and maybe a little suspicious. 

"Oh, honey, no," you firmly shook your head, holding up your open book in front of you. "According to this chapter of horrors, I'm gonna be crying all the time because of hormones. I don't need Jack and TJ's help to make my face melt." Sebastian opened his mouth to speak, but you raised a finger to cut him off. "And no, before you even ask. No Jefferson, either. God," you rolled your eyes. "You know how that reunion scene with Grace fucks me up."

He snorted, shaking his downturned head with a bashful smile, knowing full well how those three guys could break your heart, especially the Hatter and his daughter together. He hooked a finger over the top of the book to tip it down for him to see, asking, "Does it say anything in there about pregnancy making you super horny?"

"Haven't gotten to that chapter yet," you winked.

"You wanna read ahead, before I have go to the airport?" he offered, wagging his brow above a devilish smile. 


End file.
